Bird-of-Paradise Blossom

     We have two large bird-of-paradise plants, standing five feet high and almost as wide. They did not begin that way though! Around forty years ago, I gave my mother a tiny bird-of-paradise plant. When my parents moved to Indiana in 1980, she gave it back to me in a slightly larger form. It thrived, even surviving one winter, when we were away and the heating in the house failed. Many of the indoor plants froze, but that bird-of-paradise survived below freezing temperatures somehow. Miracle plant!
     This year, one of the plants developed a large crack in its pot, necessitating it to be repotted
in a new pot. Then, both large 5-foot bird-of-paradise plants were taken indoors, to have shelter from freezing winter temperatures. My son also provided one of them with a grow-light, since the house did not have sufficient sunlight.
     Unfortunately the repotted plant did not adjust well to repotting and many large leaves began
dying. To help this plant, my son also provided it with a grow-light, as well. Much to our surprise, struggling plant, with many dead leaves, produced a gorgeous gold and blue blossom. The healthy plant, with many green leaves did not produce any flower, surprisingly, despite more abundant sunlight and the stability of not enduring repotting.
     One afternoon, as I was busy with chores, I saw the beautiful bird-of-paradise blossom
lying on the floor, a distance from the plant. I was saddened and checked the plant and saw that its
delicate blossom was gone. Sadly, I suspected that I must have brushed the plant by accident and the flower clung to me and fell off. Then, I was even more perplexed to find another bird-of-paradise flower on my office chair. How strange! There had only been one flower in bloom, and why two flowers left lying in odd places? I dismissed the mystery, to other pressing issues, pushing aside the sad loss of this beautiful flower.
     The next morning, I walked past the wounded bird-of-paradise and saw with amazement,
that the same flower, that had been stripped of its blossoms, had regrown new beautiful blossoms overnight!
     When I showed this little miracle to my son, he was quite pleased. He then suggested that I had not accidentally knocked off the flowers the previous day, but that they were denuded by a visiting child. We tried to figure how the child managed to strip two different blossoms off one flower.
The only explanation seemed to be that this bird-of-paradise will grow a new blossom, when one is removed (which I had not known). Therefore, this mischievous little one, after removing the blossom, saw that new blossom grew, and removed that one too!
     What wonderful hope in that beautiful bird-of-paradise flower—gorgeous flower, that it is.
When it was plucked off and thrown away, it sprouted a new one. Just as adversity can dish us loss and sadness, our Heavenly Father gives us new hope. Ultimately, through Jesus, He provides new
life (eternal life) in His paradise!

(Below are the photos of 1: beautiful bird-of-paradise blossom, and 2: two blossoms, that had been picked, which I put in the top of the plant pot.)